Book Review: LaPorte, Indiana by Jason Bitner

An awkward preteen in a dance costume, a crying baby, a young toddler with white, scuffed walking shoes: these are images found in Jason Bitner’s LaPorte, Indiana.

Jason Bitner, of Found Magazine, makes a living collecting the things we leave behind, and compiling them for all to see. Lost love letters, a to-do list, a note from an angry neighbor have all found their way into Bitner’s Found Magazine. This time, instead of gathering the snippets of memories and messages left behind, Bitner has compiled a wonderful collection of lives, a veritable diary of a small American town.

When visiting the small town of LaPorte, Indiana, one afternoon for the LaPorte County Fair, Bitner and a friend stopped for lunch at a local diner called BJ’s American Café, in a building that formerly housed the Muralcraft Studio, owned by Frank and Gladys Pease during the 50s and 60s. The Peases specialized in children’s portraits, family portraits, engagement announcements, and the like. After Frank Pease’s death in the early 70s, the photos remained in storage in the building, until the early 90s, when the owners of the Café discovered the treasure.

Bitner noticed a small display of black and white portraits for sale and asked the waitress about it. She directed him to a small room in the back of the restaurant where thousands of photographs from the former studio were located. Customers could browse through the boxes to see if there were any recognizable faces, perhaps a family member, an old friend, a long-lost love.
Bitner and his friend then spent the next few days going through the photos, collecting the ones they wished to purchase for the book that would become LaPorte, Indiana.

Cleverly edited and grouped together, glancing at the faces of this book can make one wonder: Who are these people? What were their dreams, and did they ever achieve them? Are they still alive? Did the young man in uniform have to fight in Vietnam? Did the African-American sisters face many hardships there in LaPorte during the civil rights movement?

Article Author: Chantal Stone

Chantal is a professional Wedding & Portrait photographer based in Central Ohio. Her portfolio can be seen at Chantal Stone Photography. She also maintains a blog, where you can see much of her recent work, and a not-updated-nearly-enough photoblog.
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